Palace dresses up to lure patrons

Palace dresses up to lure patrons - The West Australian

In the mood: Jerico Wallace as bellhop. Picture: Ian Munro/The West Australian

The battle to get bums on cinema seats may be at its fiercest yet, but for the staff at Luna Palace their best weapon is the dress-up box.

As the cost of a ticket nears $20, Luna Palace's Tony Bective says cinemas need to be more creative to entice customers.

The chain's Leederville cinema has become known for its quirky events, including fancy dress nights and theme events for its new releases.

Most recently, the cinema transformed its Oxford Street premises into The Grand Budapest Hotel, projecting an image of the hotel on the face of the building and decorating the interior with props inspired by the film.

Cinema ushers also joined in, dressing as characters of the movie.

Other creative nights have included a fancy dress screening of Beetlejuice and a question and answer session with Hollywood actor Eric Bana.

Mr Bective said cinemas could justify increased ticket prices if they offered a point of difference to their patrons

"In many way prices do rise to accommodate films but that said, cinemas have to adjust and do extra things," he said.

"If there's a particular film, we try to create something with that to make it more appealing.

"It's not easy and it's very time consuming, but when it does happen and we get good support for it, it's an amazing thing to see with audiences."